Friday, October 12, 2007

There is Hockey in Columbus - Vol I

What a difference a summer can make for a young team with a disciplinarian for a coach.

I saw something on opening night that I havent seen since the inception of this organization...an actual "breakout" with all of the players on the ice skating towards the opposing team's net with...wait for it...wait for it....SPEED!!!

It has been chronicled over and over again that Hitchcock wanted these guys in shape for this season and now we are seeing why this was so important to him and the performance of this team. I am not sure that they can keep up this pace of forechecking, backchecking and overall effort, but it is very refreshing to see a Columbus team go out on the ice and expect to win...no matter the opponent.

Obviously, Hitchcock has made some strategic changes to the CBJ attack this year, as the defensemen are jumping into the play a lot more and collapsing down low in the attack zone, which would have put the fear of god into any CBJ fan over the last 6 seasons. This team is only destined to be a successful as its defense will take them..on both ends of the ice. Other changes inlclude the "chip and chase" strategy instead of the "dump and chase" strategy utilized over the last few years, which accentuates the speed of some of the smaller forwards (ie Brule, Vyborny, Fritsche) and protects them from getting too roughed up in the corners. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is not easy to change directions for defensemen...even for the best of them when a small forward is flying by you at top speed.

From an individual stanpoint, I havent seen a player that has caused me to want to break something in my living room or change the channel, due to lack of effort or hustle. Players like Zherdev have played hard...even after a "so so" camp where it looked like he was soon to be on the trading block.

Way too early player reviews:

Nash = Stud. I dont think I need to say anything else. If you dont believe me, watch the Phoenix game where neither Jovo or Derek Morris could not move Nasher off of the puck. He will be a force this year..he already is.

Vyborny = See Vyborny's last 3 years in Columbus. They look eerily similar to this year.Most consistent CBJ player on the ice every game...and it looks like he is starting to want to shoot more.

Chimera = The best move of the Dougy Mac Era. This guy is Kris Draper with scoring touch. Once he gets his wheels moving, there isnt anyone that can stop him going to the net.

Malhotra/Fritsche = These guys need to pick up their games. Peca looked good in his first game back and Brassard will be ready after Christmas to contribute to this team

Boll = Think Blake Sloan with talent and skating ability...and he didnt go to Michigan. Can you imagine him and Picard on the same line together? Whoa...

Hejda/Novotny = Thank you Mr Howson. You have already proved your worth in bringing talented players into the organization that aren't named LaChance and Cassels.

Hainsey = DCfW whipping boy has started playing strong on both ends of the ice. His offensive game was always a known commodity...hopefully he can keep up the defensive play as the season moves forward.

Kris Russell = This guy will end up being a Calder candidate...I hope. It is nice to see a non-first round draft pick finally flourish for the CBJ. It is tiring seeing the Red Wings bring a new Kronwall-type player to its roster season after season. Power-play QB of the future for the CBJ, which is very exciting. Hopefully, his body can hold up with the amount of beatings that he is sure to take on the blueline. I dont look forward to games against Iginla, Tckachuk, or Bertuzzi for Kris....they will be brutal.

Fedorov = Starting to look like the dominant player that he was in the 90's when he wants to...which is for about 2-3 minutes a game. I'll give him a break, but there seems to be a lot of #2 Centers on this team...

Peca = When this guy is finally brought into the rotation of the top 6 forwards, the CBJ will be an even better defensive team. It is exciting to have a proven commodity at the center position...that is consistent.

LeClaire = 'Le Grinch' has been stellar so far this year through two games and hasnt even seen a puck laying behind him in a game yet. This is sure to change, but Pascal has been aggressive and is playing his angles very well. He still has the fastest legs in the league.

Hopefully, the CBJ will continue its fantastic play tonight in Colorado. This should be a good game...

State of the "Diss" Union

Ohio State is 6-0 (probably 7-0 after this weekend). After this weekend, the Bucks will attempt to navigate the “murderer’s row” section of its schedule.

Understandably, the "IRA-esque" section of the “SEC Fandom” has deemed OSU and the entire B10 conference as garbage. Calls of “Kentucky or South Carolina would dominate that conference of slow northern Yankees” have emanated from below the Mason-Dixon line since January 8th and Michigan’s colossal collapse against App State and trunk-f*cking by Oregon have done the rest of us simple plodding Midwest folk no favors.

I really don’t want to bother with these types of arguments, as it is a simple fact that OSU will most likely make the MNC game in New Orleans if it finishes undefeated. LSU’s home schedule of tough games and away schedule of VMI 5 or 6 times will likely not provide any challenges, until a neutral field contest for the SEC Championship game. Cal still has some tough games, but the preliminary SOS ratings will most likely favor OSU if both schools win out (HT: TellShow).

I have seen some articles making mention of the idea of LSU losing in the SECCG and whether or not they will still deserve to be in the MNC game. Simple Answer: No. There is past precedence for this type of loss and with teams of this caliber. Look no further than Ohio State in 1998. A late season loss (not even the last game of the season) and the team never had a chance to get back in the MNC discussion. Why should someone get a pass now? ESPN will have its say on this topic if it occurs and, of course, no one is allowed to have an opinion that goes against the mighty gauntlet of college football knowledge employed by ABC/ESPN. Ultimately, the SEC could get its way in the polls through public opinion, which is so ass-backwards right now that SEC fans and media could make an argument that the SEC should have a permanent seat in the MNC and Craig James, Rece Davis, and our own Herb Kirkstreit would nod in agreement so quickly that they wouldn’t even know which side of Slive’s scrotum is hitting them, during “ESPN’s Teabag Saturday” in early December.

Winning out for OSU or Cal will not be an easy task. Too bad either school doesn’t have the media on its side in case of a late season loss, which will, in all likelihood, be afforded to LSU, if it stumbles. This is sad…this is SEC homerism. Almost makes you wish that Notre Dame was decent so some of the homerism could rationed to more than one set of schools. Oh yeah…one more thing. How does the entire conference get credit for it’s set of two exceptional teams (UF and LSU)? That would be like the Columbus Blue Jackets taking credit for the Red Wings dominance in the Central Division for the last eleventy-billion years or something. The fact that I have to root for the schools in my conference that I have perennially hated during their OOC schedule makes me want to puke. Fore the love of god, I had to root for UM when they played in the standard “meteor” game against Notre Dame this year. FU SEC…FU for making me stoop down to this level. You make me feel like a Red Sox fan rooting for the Yankees, which is just wrong in so many ways.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Big Ten Roundtable - Week 2

While I was absent last week (or all summer...depending on your perspective), you cant keep the DCfW down. Let's get it on!There Is No Name On My Jersey brings us a good series of questions for the Week 2 Edition of the Big10 Roundtable.And away we go...Clearly, Week 1 was a huge week for upsets with Appalachian St. beating Michigan and Clemson beating FSU (though if that really shocked anyone I'd be surprised). What are your upset games for Week 2 and why?

Upset Special #1#22 TCU at #4 Texas – Let’s face it. Without UM’s collapse against App State, Texas’ performance against Arkansas State would have provided a great deal of message board fodder and material to the blogosphere. They were borderline terrible after the first quarter and were lucky to win this game, from some post game reports. We have all heard about TCU’s defense this off-season. Don’t think that the Frogs haven’t had this one circled all summer. It is going to be a war. It will be interesting to see how many shots a beef-up Coly McCoy can take from this defense, because TCU will bring the house every chance they get on Saturday.

Upset Special #2#12 Cal at Colorado State – This is a classic “let-down” game. Colorado State has never been an easy place for visiting teams to win. Yes, Cal has the talent, but is the motivation there? Fortunately for Cal, this is not a night game.

Upset Special #3Alabama at Vanderbilt – For those of us not fortunate enough to see Vanderbilt’s entire season on the Jefferson-Pilot Network, Vandy was a force to be dealt with in the SEC last season. Neither team is ranked, but common sense would tell you that Alabama is just another class above Vandy…WRONG! We’ll see if Saban’s Alabama squad has an answer for the sweet combo of Chris Nickson (19 of 25 for 284 and 4 TDs against the mighty Richmond Spiders) and Earl Bennett (13 catches for 233 yards with 3 TDs).

2. What do you think about the BTN? How'd it look? How were the announcers? Did the first weekend change your opinion of the BTN?

- Overall, the BTN was a success this weekend. A lot of the mainstream media seemed to have issues with the BTN commercial spots being played over and over again, but it is obvious that the BTN knows that most of us were watching it in a bar or at a friends house. So for the Dodd’s and Fiutak’s of the journalism world…”DEAL WITH IT!”

- I primarily stuck with the OSU-YSU game, but the announcers put together a good product. Tomczak and Twibell did a decent job of making the game interesting, which YSU’s decent play in the first half was a great help, as well. I would say that the current level is above the old ESPN+ game crews and below ESPN2 MAC game crews at this point. I think that once the HD feeds are settled the BTN will be a great product.

- My opinion of the BTN is unchanged after this weekend. I want it at home. However, COMCAST wants to give me a steady diet of the Food Network, Oxygen, and WE. Seriously…How many Daphne Zuniga movies can be shown in one weekend?

3. Now that we're a game into the Season evaluate the Big Ten's strength.- Linebackers – Connor, Lee, Laurinitis, Leman. The linebacker play over the course of the first weekend was what we all expected from these four. 20 tackles for Leman and a big game from Sean Lee with 2TFL, 1 sack, and a forced fumble. Linebackers are still all the rage in the Big10 this year.

- Wide Receivers – Brian Robiskie is the next OSU receiver stud with his 9-catch 153-yard performance on Saturday. Luke Swann put together a nice afternoon with a 170-yard performance. Notice, I made no mention of all-world receiver Mario Manningham or James “The Gigantor” Hardy.

- First-Year Starting Quarterbacks – There were a lot of question marks for Wisconsin and OSU starting some new blood under center this season. It looks like some of those concerns have been alleviated for the time being. Todd Boeckman, Tyler Donovan, and Brian Hoyer all had nice starts in some “cream-puff” type of games.

Monday, September 03, 2007

On Notice - Week #1

DCfW Post Game Review: Youngstown State

It was a typical September OOC game for the Buckeyes against an old friend of Jimmy T. The Youngstown State Penguins were in town and the Buckeyes were a not-so-gracious host. I wouldnt say they were rude to YSU, but they didnt provide level of hospitality afforded up at the Big House(with Kittens and emo).

Things of note...1. Todd Boeckman is a pretty good quarterback and he throws a pretty deep ball, which we have been hearing from the coaching staff for last 18 years of Todd's college career in Columbus. Good start for him. I read that he missed some check downs (and did not utilize consumate v's when drawing dragons..see below). I didnt see them, but you guys explain icing or delayed offsides? I didnt think so...so BACK-OFF!2. All of the running backs were fantastic except for one. Unfortunately, this was the running back that has the biggest expectations...Chris Wells. Chris stated that his focus was not there in a post-game interview. I hope this is not a sign of things to come for the perceived leader of the Buckeye backfield. However, Maurice Wells and Brandon Saine were very good. Saine was hitting holes hard and running with authority, while Wells seemed to be a little more comfortable inside of the tackles.3. You cannot understate the signifigance of the Lawrence Wilson injury. Go watch his sack in Saturday's game about 4 times and tell me that OSU's D-Line will not miss that type of player. Let's hope that true freshman Cameron Heyward can help with the load. All you can really say here is "Thank God it wasnt a defensive tackle.."4. Youngstown State was no slouch. They had a gameplan to take away the run and stacked the box in doing so. Mostly, their hopes relied on a slow start by Boeckman, which just did not happen. YSU's undersized, yet quick, defensive line caused some issues for the OSU O-Line. YSU's quarterback was efficient, but did not dazzle. YSU did not have any turnovers in this game, otherwise, the score would have gotten out of hand.5. Youth prevails! There were a lot of freshman that played in this game and made significant contributions to the OSU victory. Brandon Saine, Dane Sanzenbacher, Taurian Washington, and Eugene Clifford made some plays that make the loss of playmakers from last year's squad seem a little more palatable. Again, it was YSU, but (in the past) OSU hasnt seemed to have many true freshman step in the early going.6. Brian Robiskie is a monster. I really cant wait to see him go up against Justin King later this year. Speed against size and strength. Let's hope that offensive line can give Todd some time in Happy Valley to find him.7. Kurt Coleman & Anderson Russell. Best Safety tandem at OSU since...I cant even think of a good one to compare them to at this point. Coleman was flying all over tha place in this game, and Russell was very disruptive as well.

Other notes...1. That whole UM fiasco up north...well...I dont think it really means a lot at this point. UM will still have a good season most likely. If they are not motivated by now...they never will be. For some reason, I see them beating OSU and winning their bowl game this year. Too much talent. Unfortunately, most of that talent is on the offensive side of the ball. The coaching is kind of shit-riffic on that side of the ball as well. I mean the "English Majors" smelled that like they had a couple of bottles of "Olde English" spilled on them after Saturday's debacle.2. Cal is pretty good. Obviously they are very fleet of foot. I mean they cant be SEC fast. Seriously, Mississippi State and Ole Miss would kill them on a neutral field.3. Speaking of the SEC...How long until Les messes this one up? That defense is fantastic, but that offense is teh suxor. Any team with a competent offense will score some points against LSU, but will LSU be able to score against these teams? To be continued...4. Tim Tebow can throw a football. Apparently, he threw 12 passes for 300 yards. Still not impressed....yeah I know...it's just me.5. Jake Locker (from the UW) looks pretty fast. Unfortunately, it was against Syracuse, which is "hella" slow. He looks the part, but let's wait and see how he looks against Boise State before we call him the savior of the Husky Nation. Ok?6. The trunk-f*cking of the week? Notre Dame. It looks more and more like Charlie cant gameplan his way out of a wet paper bag. Guess who is getting the trunk-f*cking of the week in week 2? Notre Dame. Penn State is going to unleash hell on those guys next week. It could get ugly. From urine on the band to a sieve-like offensive line, Notre Dame is in serious trouble in Happy Valley next week.7. Can't Read, Can't Write, Kent State. Way to make us Ohioans proud. Taking out Iowa State is no small feat. Honorable Mention to BGSU for it's game against a rebuilding Minnehaha squad in Tim Brewster's head coaching debut.8. I'm already tired of seeing stuff about the App State-UM game on ESPN or any other sports outlet. Yes, it was a huge and monumental win for a I-AA school, but in typical EPSN fashion...they need to glamorize it to a point of nausea. Thank god I am not a UM fan...otherwise it would feel a lot like the weeks following 1/8/07.9. Go Tribe! Beat Johan Santana for the fifth time this season. No other team has beaten Santana more than once in any season prior to this year.10. One other note for the CBJ faithful. Detroit picked up Mark Hartigan this past offseason. This was a quiet move in the grand scheme of things in the NHL, but anyone that knows how Mark Hartigan plays will realize this is a huge get for the Wings. Like the Wings need any freakin' help. I am calling it now. He will be a scoring machine in Detroit's system. He is a 2nd or 3rd center in the Wings' system...and is a farm club call on almost every other team's roster.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Championship Afterbirth...err...math

I have always been a big fan of watching people confirm that they would endure much confusion when attemping to decipher the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground.

I have always stated that the University of Michigan has been yearly overrated by the pre-season polls. Well, most Buckeye fans have stated as much on a yearly basis. There is also a small contingent of Buckeye fans that probably think the same thing this year, as well. I am not among them. I am not seeing many other teams outside of USC that really look to have everything it needs to be a true MNC contender this upcoming season. Every one of these teams in the Top 5 this year has a major flaw that it will need to develop or mask effectively to make it through it's schedule this year.

A quick glance...the order doesnt matter to me..USC will be a head-and-shoulders above everyone this year...IMO

2 Michigan - A lot of holes on that defense that need to be filled with departures of Woodley and Branch. Dont get me started on that secondary. The Yost crowds have a word that caters well to the UM secondary...sieve.3. LSU - QB. It doesnt matter if they are bringing back someone that has experience as a starter within the LSU system. LSU will not be able to have the same luxuries it had last year with Uncle JaMarcus under center. Also, LSU's biggest shortcoming...Les Miles...does less with more consistently every year.4. West Virginia - Give me a team with an average secondary and is willing to stack nine in the box. Crap...that's right the Big East doesnt have one of those.5. Texas - Young offensive line. Hopefully, Colt spent some time in the weight room this summer.6. Florida - See West Virginia. However, the SEC probably has a few teams that can expose Tim "Dont call me a mobile Tim Couch" Tebow's throwing ability. Championship hangovers are a bitch...ask the 2003 OSU team.

All in all...everyone is playing for #2 this year. There are a lot of teams that could end up undefeated this year, so we are already starting to hear about supposed SEC superiority and why they should be given a free pass if a team wins the SEC champoionship.

Lesley Miles dogging the Big12 and the PAC-10, which is curious to SEC and non-SEC fans alike.

Hey Nick, what was your record in the Big10? Dont worry Nick, I got your back...34-24-1. Nick was pretty much the picture of mediocrity in the Big 10 with the exception of one year (1999) and still managed to choke his team out of a BCS bid with two late season trunk-f*ckings at the hands of Purdue and Wisconsin. Nick tosses out this gem...

"No disrespect to the Big Ten, but most of the time there were three or four good teams in the Big Ten each year," he said. "Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State were pretty good and then there might be another team or two that was better that year. But here (in the SEC) there were eight or nine teams that were all pretty good. That was a challenge to play with the kind of consistency you needed to be able to sustain that kind of performance.

Yeah OSU, UM and PSU (Saban 6-7 versus the Big Three) were pretty good, but they never laid losses on Saban and MSU like Wisconsin and Purdue did in 99.

Needless to say, SEC-homerism is a great drug.

Looking further at Saban's Big10 Record...combined record against Wisconsin and Purdue ...wait for it...wait for it....2-5-1. I guess there are more than 3 good teams in the conference. I know...it's crazy. That puts the Big 10 at 5 good teams, but the SEC has like a hundred good teams. I mean even Ole Miss could give USC a run for it's money.

See, the coaches are good at slightly dogging other conferences, but the real heavy-hitters for the SEC are the footbaw bloggers. In particular, Gatorpilot from Orange and Blue Hue tends to rival the zealotry of a typical Monticello, Utah-based polygamist.

No, Michigan didn’t get better since then. But their schedule didn’t get any worse, either. In fact it got a lot easier, if such a thing is possible, and that lines them up for a BCS appearance if they can beat a couple of decent teams before January. Remember, this is the entire schedule. The Big 10 doesn’t play a conference championship game.

I just want to pull out a snippet of the schedule bashing and ask a simple question afterwards....

October 20th - @ Illinois - I think that the pushover tag would be removed either in pre-game or after UF's first offensive series. See, this is around the time of year that Memorial Stadium starts to turn into a freakin' wind tunnel. I see nine in the box and Tim Couch..err..Tebow limp-wristing throws into the wind (Come on non-Florida fans...we've seen him throw...the "noodle-arm" era is beginning in Gainesville). UF will probably win, but it will be a struggle and UF will be awfully sore after that game. Illinois' defense was extremely tough last year by the end of the year and should be pretty good this season as well. (Likelihood of win = 60%)

October 27th - Minnesota - Win...probably a blowout. Minnehaha is in a serious re-building mode right now. (Likelihood of win = 95%)

November 3rd - @ Michigan State - Win...MSU has some athletes and probably wont make the same John L Smith mistakes in the past with Dantonio at the helm. UF will actually have to beat MSU...MSU will not implode. An interesting wrinkle would be the gameplanning between Dantonio and Meyer. Dantonio is Meyer's equal in defensive versus offensive gameplanning, but he doesnt have the horses that Meyer does at his disposal. (Likelihood of win = 70%)

November 10th - @ Wisconcsin - Loss. UF may have the speed advantage...just like Auburn did in 2005 and just like Arkansas did in 2006. However, Wisconsin would be the toughest team that UF would face all year. Toughest is the key word. I am not saying that they are the better team, but you dont go into Madison in November and expect to win. It will probably be snowing or in the upper 30's for gametime. Elements and the fact that they are playing a good team with talented players would be a likely loss. Remeber...Wisconsin doesnt run around you...they run through you...and your 240lb Defensive ends. (Likelihood of win = 10%)

November 17th - OSU - UF will have the advantage on the offensive side of the ball, but you can ask any UM fan, as this will not be an OSU team that you would want to play at the end of this upcoming season. It will be a straight forward running attack and the defense will be worlds better than it was last year. Tebow will get his yards and UF will definitely have a homefield advantage. (Likelihood of win = 65%)

Any team that will make it through those 5 games undefeated probably deserves some recognition...well...at least some educated recognition.

About that whole Conference Championship thingy, it is a money train for the conference....not a rite of passage to a National Title appearance. If Florida would have played aginst Michigan they way that it played against Arkansas in it's last game of the season, Florida would have lost by 20 to UM. They fumbled and bumbled their way into a win in that game and were fortunate enough to find a fat and happy OSU team waiting in Glendale. Florida won that BCS Championship game very impressively, but Florida walked into a nice situation similar to OSU in 2002 with Miami.

If I were a UF fan, I would be more worried about the bullseye on the back of the Gators and the subsequent "best shot" from each team on its schedule. Then again who could argue with a group of fans supporting a team that is finishing it's season with this minefield of games....Georgia, Vandy, @ South Carolina, Florida Atlantic, and Florida State (Herringbone references these teams as "Terrible"...yes, even Georgia and Florida State...and dont get me started on Western Kentucky)

See it's all about perspective, SEC fan looks at Big Ten schedule and thinks there are only 2-3 tough games on there a year. I look at UF's schedule this year and I see 3 teams this year that are even in the arena of being worthy to describe as formidable (Tenn, Auburn, and LSU). Outside of those teams, Georgia and South Carolina are the only teams that might give UF a Northwestern-style scare in-conference. However, Georgia = No Offense, Florida State = NC State w/Chuck Amato..all athletes...no football knowledge. The rest of that schedule is garbage.

The only thing that is going knock the SEC zealots off of their high horse is a sound arse whipping in the bowl season. I dont see the Big10 having two representatives in the BCS this year, so this should be an interetesting year for Big 10-SEC matchups in the bowl season. Then again, outside of Florida's game against OSU, the SEC has been teh suxor against the Big Ten in bowl games the last few years. Dont let that fact cloud your judgement SEC fans, because CBS will be ready to tell the world during an in-game soliloquy of the SEC's dominance...in earnest. Unfortunately, the rest of the college football world will have CBS on mute, so they wont have to hear about for the 400th time.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Draft Party in Cowtown...That is Columbus for you Non-Ohio types

So Anaheim has won the Stanley Cup...awesome. California winning the cup is about as useful as a third nipple...unless you are into that kind of thing...not that there is anything wrong with that.

More importantly, everyone was able to see how the ratings were terrible for this year's Cup Finals broadcast. There is nothing more entertaining than watching the journalists play the equivalent of tee-ball when they dont have a good story with juicy bits involved.

The thought process involves...

Ratings were poor this year + Hockey is not broadcast on "Worldwide Leader" = Hockey is sure to die in the future.

I say nay...

Look, a lot of people love hockey, but we all saw this coming. This is not a sport for the simple-minded creature that enjoys basketball or football on the periphery. This is a sport that takes some time to learn and understand what is actually going on out there. Hell, it takes some people a half of a season to understand icing when they are first learning the game. Lets slow down a little bit before we start talking about "cycling" and "zone responsibilities" with the noobs..ok?

To more positive news, and by positive I mean CBJ new...which is never positive, the candidiates for the CBJ jobs seem to be jumping ship or are just not delicious enough to get excited about. Bob Murray hung around long enough to get a cup of coffee, which makes a lot of CBJ fans sad. So that leaves Howson from Edmonton and Les Jackson from Dallas as the "real" remaining candidates. The one thing that really seems to be a little curious is Detroit denying Jim Nill the opportunity to talk to the Columbus organization about the position. I would think that this would make Steve Yzerman (regardless of his current position in the organization) a little upset, as he will probably want this job prior to eventually moving up to the Red Wing GM position whenever Kenny Holland decides he has had enough. I cant see him moving into the GM chair without some time as the assistant GM. IMO...

The 2007 NHL Entry Draft is coming to Columbus. Finally! Some postseason excitement.

I cannot attend (stupid new plane), but my CBJ Blogging Brethren (Drew and Michael) have decided to throw a clambake of some type for the in-town and out-of-town bloggers. It should be a pretty good time.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Wait for it...yeah...Troy Smith is no longer able to throw footballs or walk upright.

According draft gurus Todd Shay and Mel Kiper Jr., Troy Smith has gone from a first day pick to free agent status in the last 18 hours. The basis for this judgement has nothing to do with past performance, which has been basically perfect with the expection of a few hiccups against Penn State in 2005 and the Disaster in the Desert.

The assessment has been accumulated from Todd and Mel tossing Brady's and Russell's salads so much that they forgot what a Troy Smith salad tastes like. Personally, I am not keen to Troy Smith's salad, but most of the draft experts approach a Chester the Molester level with the amount of information and gushing over the flavor of the month talent that can throw a football over a mountain with a set of testicles in his mouth and nine broken fingers.

Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay carpooling to a private prospect workout near you

Let's look at the DCfW resumes of the two quarterbacks that are destined to be the first two quarterbacks taken in the draft tomorrow. Of course, this is all conjecture and factless banter, but bear with me...

JaMarcus Dilfer...err...Russell

Accomplishments inlude being able to being throw a football 6,000 yards underhand. I know this because this is all that I heard about when I watched the most ridiculous media "circus-sealing" ever, during this past Sugar Bowl, as JM faced a secondary and overall defense in Norte Dame that rivals that of an average MAC team.

Hey NFL draftniks, just because the guy is the size of a large condominium in the Seattle-area (if you lived here you would understand) that doesnt translate to on field success. JM has had a knack for not showing up in the biggest of games, especially in-conference. Take Auburn in 2006 and UT/UGA in 2005. These are games that a team with the talent of LSU (which is what we hear every year) should not lose at home or not have the ability to score one single freakin' touchdown.

Never has there been a QB that has earned more accolades for buckling in his biggest games each year. The best games in his career have been against team like Navy, Boston College, and Stanford. Notice that I did not mention USC, OSU, LSU, or Michigan. Yeah...basically he has not been able to lead his teams to victories in any big games....

And that just simply screams...pick me first!

In Conclusion...

I dont care about where Troy Smith gets drafted this year, but the fact that he is shade under 6-feet shouldnt make him any less of a high draft pick candidate than these other two that have played in the same amount of big games as Trpy Smith, but have lost twice as many games as Mr. Smith.

Makes you wonder when the NFL is just going to admit that they are just drafting like the NBA...for potential...not performance....not intangibles (unless you Notre Dame QA emu-ish

hair) nor leadership ability.

Enjoy the draft. I will be watching it from my high-altitude tent...I've got to start training for all of the games next year that may give me a heart-attack. The Bucks are going to have some problems scoring points...welcome back to 2002...

About Me

Inspired by many great blogs out there, I step up to the plate with various takes on multiple topics including OSU sports, the NHL, and other topics. You know what the sad part about this is? I had to move almost 3,000 miles away from Columbus to start blog about the Buckeyes.